Key figures face criminal charges over coalmining deal

Three key figures who have featured in the state's most sensational corruption inquiry are likely to have criminal charges recommended against them when the Independent Commission Against Corruption's final report is handed down on Wednesday.

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ICAC report looms

Senior reporter Kate McClymont looks back at the inquiry into alleged NSW government corruption by the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Former mining minister Ian Macdonald, his predecessor Eddie Obeid and Mr Obeid's son Moses face referrals to the Director of Public Prosecutions for possible criminal prosecution for conspiracy to defraud.

The DPP will then consider whether there is enough evidence to mount a case. Evidence given under objection at the ICAC cannot be used in other proceedings, except in prosecutions for perjury.

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In February, Geoffrey Watson, SC, told Eddie Obeid: ''I'm going to submit that you engaged in a criminal conspiracy. You engaged in that with Ian Macdonald and with members of your family and the design was to effect a fraud on the people of NSW.''

During his turbulent period in the witness box, Mr Macdonald angrily rejected the suggestion he was a ''crook''. In his opening address Mr Watson said their conduct, if proved, was ''corruption on a scale probably unexceeded since the days of the Rum Corps''.

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He was referring to allegations that decisions made by Mr Macdonald in relation to the granting of coal exploration leases enabled the Obeid family to make $30 million, with the prospect of earning at least $70 million more.

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A forensic accountant followed the money from the mining deal through a maze of Obeid trusts. Millions of dollars are alleged to have been used on property purchases and to fund the lifestyles of Mr Obeid and his nine adult children.

Of the $1.5 million Mr Obeid is alleged to have received from the suspect coal transaction, some was used for the deposit on a holiday house at Port Macquarie and $280,000 was used to buy a Mercedes-Benz.

Those facing adverse findings include one of the nation's richest men, Travers Duncan, merchant banker Richard Poole, and John McGuigan, the former global head of law firm Baker & McKenzie.

They were part of a consortium of investors in Cascade Coal, which won the right to explore for coal at Mount Penny, in the Bylong Valley near Mudgee.

The Obeids and their associates had bought key properties at Mount Penny before the tender process. Using a complicated series of trusts and companies run by associates, the Obeids disguised their 25 per cent stake in Cascade Coal.

Last week Mr Duncan, 80, lost his last-ditch bid to have the High Court stop ICAC handing its report to the NSW Parliament.

Mr Duncan had been alleging that Commissioner Ipp had shown ''apprehended bias''.

One of the crucial witnesses who appeared before the inquiry was Chinese entrepreneur Alan Fang, who appeared to be the Obeid family's initial choice to ''win'' the 2008 coal licence tender overseen by Mr Macdonald.

Mr Fang, who was once close to Mr Macdonald, dropped a bombshell when he told the hearing he had met Mr Obeid in his parliamentary office in June 2008 to discuss buying the Obeids' properties at Mount Penny and going into a mining joint venture with the family.

Mr Fang's claim that Mr Macdonald took him to Mr Obeid's office prompted Mr Obeid to declare that during his 20 years in Parliament, Mr Macdonald had never been to his office. Several MPs later gave evidence that this was incorrect.

The timing of the meeting between Mr Fang and Mr Obeid, which Mr Obeid denies took place, is critical because it predated Mr Macdonald's announcement that tenders would be called to mine for coal at Mount Penny.

But only a week after Mr Fang met Mr Obeid, the press gallery veteran Alex Mitchell wrote a story titled: ''NSW mining minister and the mysterious Mr Fang''.

The story detailed how weeks earlier Mr Fang had chartered a plane to fly Mr Macdonald and other government officials to meetings during a visit to China. The inquiry heard Mr Macdonald later re-opened the tender process to enable Cascade Coal, a company associated with Mr Duncan, to apply.